1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing device, method, and program, and more particularly relates to an information processing device, method, and program, suitably used for organizing and searching of image data.
2. Description of the Related Art
As digital cameras have become more commonplace, and the capacity of the storage media for digital cameras has increased while becoming more compact, the number of images which users take with digital cameras and save has been increasing. The more images are saved, the more the user has to work to manage the images. For example, if the user desires to search for an image taken of a desired person, the user has to search through a great number of images.
Accordingly, an arrangement has been proposed wherein sorting and searching of images is facilitated by using image analysis technology, particularly technology for detecting human faces from images. For example, arrangements have been proposed in which images are classified according to whether or not there are people in the images, or classified according to the number of people in the images, or further classified according to people discriminated from the images (e.g., see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Nos. 2005-284487 and 2005-157679).
Further, an arrangement has been proposed wherein more detailed attribute information of the detected faces is detected, such as the orientation of faces, gender and age of persons, and the degree of smiling, for example, and the detected faces are classified based on such attribute information.
However, while simply detecting people in images and adding attribute information allows for general-purpose photograph sorting, this has not been able to provide sorting or searching according to the environment or tendencies of the user in a more personal manner. Accordingly, there has been demand for a technique enabling sorting or searching according to the environment and tendencies of the user in a more personal manner. Providing information in such a way that matches the environment of the user or the situation of the user himself/herself has been difficult.
It has been found desirable to enable sorting and searching of images according to the environment and tendencies of the user in a more personal manner.